(a) There is created, within the Department of Commerce, a Statistics Division to be headed by a Chief of Statistics.

(b) The Statistics Division is authorized to collect, tabulate, compile, analyze, publish and report all official statistics covering social, economic and demographic fields as required for the purpose of making policy decisions; and to carry out the purposes of this Act; and to conduct pertinent censuses and surveys.

(c) Information shall be collected to enable the production of official statistics relating to the following:

(d) The Director of the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Chief of Statistics, may adopt, amend, and repeal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act, A.S.C.A., §§ 4.1001 et seq., governing the collection, tabulation, compilation and publication of official statistics, and all other similar matters which in his judgment shall be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. The rules, when adopted in conformity with A.S.C.A., §§ 4.1001 et seq., have the force and effect of law.

(e) All department and agency heads, government employees, private individuals and businesses required by this Act, or by regulations duly promulgated and adopted by the Department of Commerce, to provide required information, shall inform, submit or provide such information to the Statistics Division without delay.

(f) The Statistics Division is empowered to coordinate all censuses, including American Samoa Government and the United States Federal censuses; the census of Population and Housing; the census of Agriculture; the Census of Economic and any other census as mandated by federal laws.

(g) The Statistics Division is empowered to plan, design and execute various types of statistical surveys that are necessary for compilation and publication of the official statistical system. Any statistical surveys to be conducted by any branch or subdivision of the American Samoa Government shall be approved by the Statistical Advisory Council and coordinated with the Statistics Division prior to undertaking such survey.

(h) The production of official statistics relating to items (1) through (18) in subsection (c) above shall be fully coordinated with the activities engaged in the production of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates. Specifically, (1) the measurement of income, expenditure and taxation must follow NIPA conventions using approved Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) methodology; (2) measurement of prices must follow Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) standards to ensure that price deflation of the NIPA aggregates is valid; (3) measurement of trade and financing must follow NIPA conventions enumerated in the applicable BEA publications on balance of payments; and (4) measurement of economic, financial, manufacturing, production and administrative must be baselined in the quinquennial Economic Census, and geared towards producing value added estimates of GDP.